Team

Founded in 2009 with the creation of the documentary film Coexist, the Upstander Project has trained more than 1,000 educators and reached thousands more across North America and around the world to encourage upstanding.

Adam Mazo is the director of the Upstander Project and co-director and producer of First Light, and the feature-length film, Dawnland. Adam also directed and produced Coexist (WORLD Channel, Africa Movie Academy Award Nominee). He co-founded the Upstander Project in 2009. He is originally from Minnesota, graduated from the University of Florida, and now lives in Boston with his wife and son.

Mishy Lesser, Ed.D., is the learning director for the Upstander Project and Education Fellow at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut. She is director of the Upstander Academy, a weeklong professional learning experience for teachers and museum educators that focuses on genocide and human rights education and the skills of upstanders. Currently Dr. Lesser spends much of her time researching and writing the five-inquiry Teacher's Guide for Dawnland. Mishy authored the Coexist Teacher’s Guide to promote learning about the complexity of reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda. She is a Circle Keeper and has been featured on WBUR (Boston) and PRI/BBC’s The World. Mishy was a Fulbright Scholar in Ecuador and spent 12 years learning and working in the Andes.

Tracy Rector (Choctaw/Seminole) is the impact producer for Dawnland and the Upstander Project. She is a mixed race filmmaker, curator, community organizer, co-founder of Longhouse Media. She has made over 400 short films, and is currently in production of her fifth feature documentary. Her work has been featured on Independent Lens, Cannes Film Festival, ImagineNative, National Geographic, Toronto International Film Festival, and in the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian. She is a current Firelight Media Lab Fellow, WGBH Producer Fellow, and Sundance Institute Lab Fellow. Raised in Seattle and Albuquerque, Tracy lives in Seattle and sits as a City of Seattle Arts Commissioner.

Ben Pender-Cudlip is the co-director and cinematographer of Dawnland and First Light. He has directed over a dozen short documentary films, including Sanjiban in 2012 (Hot Docs, CIFF) and Fetch in 2014 (Woods Hole). He lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Bard College at Simon’s Rock.